Critic Reviews

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82

Game Over Online

In spite of a few missteps, Parallel Lines is a welcome entry in the Driver series. There are still some issues that need serious work, but some existing problems were remedied, and I appreciate that. Graphically, it’s the most engrossing sandbox game yet. The story isn’t much, but the game itself is always fun to play - providing a strong, but fair challenge as you progress, while delivering the most thrilling car chases in gaming. None of its flaws are things that can’t be fixed with time, and while that’s frustrating here given how long it was in development, the progress made makes me think we’ll see major improvements in later games. If you’ve enjoyed this series before, check this out. If you haven’t, but like the 3D GTAs, try this and see what it would be like to play a really good looking GTA game.

It’s 1978 and you’re The Kid, 18 years-old and newly arrived in New York from the country. You’re out to make your fortune and this being a Driver game, you aren’t going to be doing secretarial work. TK does some debt collection and hits some liquor stores before his friend Ray sets him up with a shot at the big time. This is where you come in.

Inspiration. Influences. Let’s face it; we live in one of those ages where everything influences everything else, and the concept of an original idea is one that is fading fast. Every good song’s already been written, every good film’s already been made, and every good computer game’s already been played. So why are we still here? The answer is a combination of nostalgia, reinterpretation and, ultimately, reinvention. Take something that’s already good and make it better. Take what we already know is cool and make it cooler. And what’s cool? Well, car chases are cool, guns are cool and the 70s were cool too. Come to think of it, the now isn’t too bad either. Bingo; welcome to Driver: Parallel Lines.

Some people will find the format and mission variety strikingly similar to Grand Theft Auto, but personally I don't mind - if that's what people want then give it to them. There are definitely some things I feel GTA does better, but Driver: Parallel Lines has a unique feel and some good ideas to go along with it. It's an overall solid effort, but there are some aspects of the game that should have gotten a bit more work. Maybe next time.

Driver was one of the defining games of the PlayStation generation. A rough look at crime as viewed by undercover cop Tanner, Drive gave gamers an awesome ride through a fully 3D city filled with high-speed chases. While the sequels Driver 2 and the abysmal Driv3r came close to destroying the franchise completely, Parallel Lines took the good parts from the previous games, gave them a new coat of paint, and produced a thoroughly enjoyable game.

If there is one franchise that is totally ruined by the developers themselves, it is the Driver-series. Driver 2 was released way too early so the game could profit from the last living days of the Playstation 1 console. Reflections got a shot to undo the damage on the Playstation 2 with a third title in the series but was clearly a bit too impressed by the GTA-series, something which resulted in an enjoyable game as long as you stayed in your automobile but once you slammed the car doors behind you, the game became a great source of frustrations. The lousy controls and the shitty camera made sure that many PS2 owners threw their controller at their TV in pure desperation. And what better kind of signal that your game is going nowhere can one get than a melting PS2 controller in a dying tube?

There can be little doubt that Driver: Parallel Lines is an improvement over the disappointment that was DRIV3R. Parallel Lines is definitely more enjoyable but it's also lost a lot of what made the first two games in the series great. In fact in many ways this fourth game in the series feels more like a GTA game than a Driver game and this is something not every fan of the series is going to be happy about.

The comparisons of Driver: Parallel Lines to GTA are unavoidable. This fourth installment of the Driver series is best described as a blend of the two games. It has the familiar Driver mechanics with a GTA-inspired gameplay. There's still a lot of racing but there is plenty to do outside of your vehicle as well.

Perhaps the press just likes a good fight between similar games and we're just imagining all this stuff about how Driver does "this' well and GTA does 'that" well. Certainly, the GTA / Driver rivalry has given us much to talk about over the years. Did Reflections wave a white flag? Or did Reflections simply follow the natural evolution of the Driver series and this is the latest stage in that development? Maybe Driver 3 didn't sell all that well, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sold like gangbusters, and Atari and Reflections made business and creative decisions to improve Driver along avenues that previously had been rejected or dismissed. Who knows? One thing we do know is that this latest effort is a healthy, respectable rebound from the third outing and it puts Driver back into the saddle again.

In essence, Parallel Lines does indeed revisit the old style of semi-sandbox gameplay founded in Driver, and later expanded so monumentally by Rockstar’s GTA series. However, that chronological step backwards in terms of inspiration now tarnishes the overall experience with a distinctly derivative aftertaste. Indeed, although the original Driver was a thoroughly decent - and inventive -game for its time (1999), this latest iteration lacks any semblance of gameplay innovation, and rather feels like a carefully constructed homage to its founding father, while also running on (“ahem”) vaguely parallel lines to the Grand Theft Auto franchise. There’s little doubt that in some respects it’s eminently better than Driv3r, but it’s definitely a case of too little too late where wrestling back the mantle of success is concerned. Solid but uninspired, and largely forgettable despite the convincing tyre tracks it leaves in the sandbox genre.

Parallel Lines arrives as a breath of fresh air after Driver 3, righting the multitude of problems found in that game. The good driving mechanic and excellent presentation found in Parallel Lines are only let down by some rather mundane missions. Were it not for this it would certainly be held in much higher acclaim, but the developers are certainly back on the right track. Hopefully the next-generation of consoles will provide further opportunity to deliver on the potential of the series.

To get to the good stuff, though, you'll have to wade through a load of familiar content. The basic story setup is novel, since it begins in a nicely imagined NYC circa 1978, then jumps to the modern Big Apple. But as gorgeous as the cutscenes are, there's really nothing to latch onto in the story, which is half gangland tale, half revenge plot. Humor and satire are almost non-existent. The characters are at best familiar and often stale, and you've generally seen it all before.

Every game could be better in some respect. Even the most acclaimed titles have some slight flaws in camera, control, or playability that could have been fixed with just a little more time or money. Driver: Parallel Lines, in attempting to fix the flaws of the much-reviled Driv3r, runs head-on into a problem that I simply can’t see a solution for. The problem is that I can’t really find an answer to the question: Why does there need to be another Driver game?

In the wake of such a dismal game as Driv3r it would have been easy for Atari or Reflections Interactive to throw in the towel and drop the Driver series, but thankfully they did not. With this new iteration they have resurrected the old controls and breathed new life into the series. Though the game isn’t perfect, it features a solid story, a large number of cars to drive, a trunk load of unlockables and possibly the best licensed sound track ever. If the Driver series continues on this path in the next generation it could start to give Grand Theft Auto a true run for its money.

Muscle Cars roar with amazing control and the police chases that ensue often have you weaving dangerously through densely packed traffic. It has some truly amazing moments to it, but outside of these infrequent sparkles, it'll most certainly put you to sleep.

65

GameZone

If it looks like it, walks like it, and smells like it, the usual assumption is that it's just that. Diver: Parallel Lines smells like Grand Theft Auto, but the taste isn't quite right. It's got the same concept, similar to the way a frozen dinner resembles entrees from the Olive Garden. Though it may be appetizing when faced with no other option, Lean Cuisine is hardly a substitute for the real thing.

Driver: Parallel Lines isn't nearly as messed up as the last Driver game was. Considering how completely jacked most of Driver 3 was, that's not really saying much, but it's still worth saying. Parallel Lines is a mostly competent game that's probably the most blatant Grand Theft Auto clone to date. Considering that GTAIII was, in many ways, picking up where the first two Driver games left off, maybe this is just a case of turnabout being fair play. Either way, Driver: Parallel Lines isn't broken, but it's almost completely uninspired and devoid of the little things that make these sorts of games entertaining. The characters fall flat, the story is uninteresting, and the gameplay controls are often inadequate.

How badly do you want to play another GTA rip-off? Driver: Parallel Lines is better than most, but it still can't hold a candle to Rockstar's flagship series -- regardless of which one was the bigger pioneer back in the day. While a definite bump in horsepower over Driv3r, this game still struggles to compete with the others in the packed genre, and is only worth a test drive if you've played them all before and still find yourself thirsty for more.

"Well, it's not as bad as DRIV3R," is probably the first thing you'll hear from anyone you ask about Driver: Parallel Lines (or DrIVer, if you're feeling a bit more cheeky.) To be fair, that's a bit too much like saying, "It killed my family, but at least it didn't force me to watch." Not exactly a glowing endorsement, and the game deserves better.

Driver: Parallel Lines is a competent title with hours of gameplay on offer. But the parallels to the grand-daddy of living world titles are obvious. However, where GTA used humor, masses of distractions, OTT violence, and a giant game world with a real sense of space and depth to mask the unimpressive visuals, Driver is the opposite, using an impressive physics engine and city to hide repetitive and languid gameplay that's becoming increasingly difficult to enthuse about.

There’s a lot more to say about Driver: Parallel Lines, but most of the important stuff has been said. There’s enough material here to warrant a weekend rental, but the questionable design decisions and been-there-done-that gameplay elements will have you yawning before the first third of the game is completed. True fans of the genre are better off playing through San Andreas once again, its guaranteed to be more fun and doesn’t mind you breaking a few pithily traffic laws.